You may remember the classic academic approach ‘show, don’t tell’ from school English lessons, encouraging you to tell stories through actions, thoughts, words, sensory details, and feelings rather than through bland exposition. This technique aligns perfectly with the creation of product demonstration videos. All businesses can tell consumers that their product fulfills its purpose, but can you show it in action and convince consumers that it really works?
In a compelling sales pitch, one of the best ways to show faith in your product is to demonstrate your glowing enthusiasm for it. In the wake of the COVID pandemic, we understand it can be more difficult to show this human side of a business. With less face-to-face interaction, product demonstration films are the key to any successful marketing strategy. They can promote your product and demonstrate through video why it is deserving of your enthusiasm.
What is a product demonstration video?
Product demos are (most frequently but not always) short videos explaining and exemplifying how to use your product or service. They can have a positive impact on both B2B and B2C sales.
Explaining product-
Discuss how your product works, what problems it solves, and how it can make your life easier. This is most often done audibly or through written text.
Discussing a product can generate interest, however, most consumers are aware that while all producers claim their product can efficiently fulfill the stated goal, not all products can back up these claims with proof. This is why you must supplement explanations with a demonstration.
Exemplifying role of product-
Show visually that your product is effective at carrying out its intended purpose. You can use examples of problems that the consumer regularly faces and demonstrate how these problems can be solved using your product. Show where your product fits into the market.
Product demo videos are simple. They combine explaining the product, what it does and how it does it and exemplifying these concepts, proving to potential customers that it can fulfill its role effectively.
Pros and cons of product demonstration videos
Pros-
- Accessible and simple.
- Can reach and be understood by a large range of consumers all over the globe.
- They are often reusable and can be functional in many different settings.
- They are effective as part of both an online and offline marketing strategy.
- Can positively influence brand awareness, this brings in more potential customers as they make further favourable associations with the brand.
- Time and money spent on travelling sales representatives can be saved and applied elsewhere.
- Consumers are busy, most don’t have time to research a product well enough to understand its purpose, product demo videos allow potential customers to digest information surrounding your product quickly – they are then able to decide to buy or not buy your product.
Cons-
- Traditional sales pitches will often provide potential consumers with the opportunity to try the product, this is not possible with a product demo video.
- Videos can sometimes become impersonal, especially when produced for a mass audience with little specificity (better to identify your audience and then aim to advertise to them).
- Product demo videos can be complex and expensive to make. It is best to way up costs and determine if it would be beneficial for your business to produce in-house or to hire an agency (each option here has merits and faults).
Stats to consider
- 72% of B2B buyers do at least half of their research online before they buy anything. (for this reason alone it is clear that a product demo video is essential to market your product and increase profitability).
- A recent Wyzowl study revealed that 69% of consumers prefer to watch a short video to learn more about a brand’s products or services.
- 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to make a purchase based on a brand’s video.
- 69% of consumers believe a product demo best assists them when making a purchase decision.
- Almost 80% of people state that product videos give them more confidence when purchasing a product.
- 92% of marketers who use video say it’s an important part of their marketing strategy — up from 78% in 2015.
- 87% of Gen Z prefers branded videos or ads that show someone talking about a product.
How to make a great product demonstration video
Identify what the goal of your product demo video is
What do you want the audience to walk away with? Do you want them to subscribe to marketing emails or immediately buy the product? Are you keen to educate them or increase positive associations with your brand?
Sales-oriented advertisements tend to include more aggressive marketing queues such as incentives to purchase and flashier imagery, demo videos on the other hand, whilst of course a form of advertisement, do not have this as their primary aim. If you would like to show how your product could make an honest difference to the lives of customers, a product demo video would be most appropriate, but aside from this what more do you want?
Identify who the target audience for your product demo video is
Is your product demo video for returning customers, perhaps introducing a new product feature to them? Or is it going to be aimed at new potential consumers?
You will have to consider what buyer persona you are gearing this video towards. Imagine your ideal customer and hold on to this fictional character throughout the creation of the video and refer back to them, asking if they would be enticed by how your product is presented.
Consider your buyer persona’s narrative. If they are a Finance Director at a company looking for new B2B products, be sure you relate your product to their processes and avoid oversimplifying language.
Consider using a less formal approach, such as humour and upbeat music, if you’re demonstrating how your new coffee machine works and are aiming to attract young professionals.
Understand where you want your video to be hosted
A product demo video made for Youtube will be different from one made for Tiktok. The video must be compatible with the platform where it will be hosted; for example, Youtube videos are typically landscape and can be any length, whereas TikTok videos are portrait and must be under one minute long.
It is important to consider this before making your video to ensure the most beneficial hosting platform is chosen and is compatible with your product demo video.
Set a budget and timeframe for your video
Whether it’s £100 or £1 million, it is essential to lay out a realistic budget before starting the production process of any type of video.
Type of video, duration, talent, creative approach, and pre/ post-production are all things to consider when formulating your budget.
It is worth considering that a product demo video is something that will be watched by customers already in your sales funnel. For this reason, it may be worth spending more money on the video to ensure purchases are followed through.
It is also essential to put your video against a timeline to ensure the process runs smoothly and videos are released when you intend them to be.
Read our article on video production budgeting here.
Choose between live action and animated video
There are pros and cons to both live action and animated video, take a look at our article here to help choose the best one for your product demonstration video.
Online products such as apps benefit from animated videos whereas physical product demos tend to work better with live action as it showcases their abilities in the real world.
If you still can’t decide, why not develop a mixed-media video using both formats.
Decide the length of the video
The ideal length of a product demo video is under two minutes. This keeps audiences engaged. This is not to say they cannot be longer, complex products may need more time to discuss their purpose, this is ok! It’s best not to gloss over details that may be important.
It will be assumed that if a product can be demonstrated in a short amount of time, it must be simple to use.
Shorter video times also force you to pick and include only the most important and relevant features of your product.
It’s best to remember that a demo video should be fully long enough to explain the product and show it completing tasks, but refined enough to keep the audience interested.
Employ an agency or create the video in-house?
Depending on budget restraints, it may not be possible to employ a video production agency, however, it is something to seriously consider.
Video production is a creatively complex and logistically difficult process. Hiring a video production company allows your idea to be turned into reality by experienced industry professionals trained to make your product as marketable as it can be.
Aside from avoiding the stress yourself, it is likely that hiring a video production company will be a worthwhile investment.
This being said, increasingly, it is possible to achieve some marketability through in-house video content, filmed through phones and edited on simple apps.
Formulate an effective structure for your video
Decide how you want to communicate your goal to your audience.
It is important to have a strong opening to keep audiences engaged.
Creative video agencies will likely help you with this
Write a script
Scripts define the pace, tone, and message of your demo video and can be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful video campaign.
Make sure to include all important information in your script as audiences are more likely to engage with your video this way.
Again, agencies are likely to help with this can be a lengthy process.
Make sure you include a call to action
A call to action within your product demo video is essential.
CTA is a term used in marketing to describe any prompt designed to ignite an immediate and voluntary response from a potential customer, increasing the likelihood that they will interact with or purchase from your brand.
Insert phrases like ‘subscribe now!’ or ‘shop here’ throughout the video.
Create a marketing strategy or align with the current plan
A marketing strategy refers to your business’s plan for reaching prospective consumers and converting them into loyal customers.
This includes the company’s message, CSR policy, data, demographics, and other high-level elements.
What is the best way to market your demo video to impact your customer’s journey along the sales funnel? Decide your marketing strategy or fit it in with an existing one. This may include sharing your demo video on social media or through a marketing email.
Take inspiration from these 5 examples of great product demo videos
Headspace
Duolingo
Microsoft Surface
Slack
Nintendo Switch
To summarise…
Show, don’t tell!
Product demonstration videos are used to explain and exemplify how your product is utilised. They demonstrate to potential buyers that it is effective at what it sets out to do and solves problems faced by consumers.
Product demonstration videos should attract potential customers to interact more with your brand. Hopefully, along the way, they form positive associations with your brand and undertake immediate action in the form of subscription or purchase.
Think about the pros and cons of product demo videos, if they would be beneficial for your business and whether you would like to use an agency or in-house team.
Finally, take inspiration from the successful product videos featured above, formulate proposals based on these that you can take into discussions with an agency or in-house team.
Think you want to use a video agency? Give us a call or drop us an email! We are a full-service video and animation agency with over 2000 films under our belt and would love to support you in bringing your product demonstration video to life.
